Since 1985, in various formats, SLANT -- an independent voice based in Richmond's Fan District -- has offered its readers original commentary on politics and popular culture, including cartoons and selected sundries. Warning: Sometimes that means satirical content. All rights are reserved.

Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Dangerous Cartoons

Note: This post is from 2006. In the spirit of Je suis Charlie, I'm re-posting it.

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The meanderings of international affairs have at last strayed into my bailiwick, my natural field of expertise -- unreality.

Cartoons
by sarcastic European artists, designed to ruffle feathers, have
flushed out a shockingly angry response that seems to be feeding on
itself. Peace-loving folks everywhere are bewildered, wondering how far
this absurd momentum will take us. It's 2006, already, and adults are
killing each other over cartoons. What’s next?

The Cartoon War: "Ye gods and little fishes!" Rebus exclaimed. "Called up from the cartoon reserves at my age!"

Most
Americans are probably surprised by riots over edgy art. Not me.
There’s plenty of precedent for it. In the interest of full disclosure,
I’ve known since the third grade that a cartoon mocking a thin-skinned
bully can start a fistfight.

As a kid, I was a self-appointed cartoon critic who adored Heckle and Jeckle. Loathed Chip ‘n’ Dale. Loved Pogo. Hated Peanuts. Dug salty Popeye. Cringed at wimpy Mickey Mouse. Cartoons were close to my heart. Growing up in Richmond I had the good fortune to see Fred O. Seibel’s
elegant work on a regular basis, as he was the world class political
cartoonist in residence at the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Subsequently, at
17, my first published work was a caricature of Hubert Humphrey.

So
my fascination with political art was stoked at an early age.
Eventually, I came to admire renown political cartoonists such as Herbert Block (Herblock), Bill Mauldin, Thomas Nast, Honore Daumier and other masters of the genre. My favorites list is too long for this space, however, the father to all of them was Francisco de Goya. He stunned viewers in the early-1800s who had never seen war portrayed as horror, set in an un-glorious context.

Political
art, by its very nature, has always stirred passions. It has galvanized
movements and spawned flare-ups of violence aplenty. How Goya got away
with his unprecedented depictions of blood-lust and lost souls during
the French occupation of Spain baffles me. Take a look at some of it, you’ll see what I mean. Daumier was thrown in jail six months for mocking the king with his deft pen.

OK,
so what’s my cartoonist’s take on the controversy raging over
depictions of a certain Middle Eastern prophet, you-know-who? Like,
whose side am I on?

Ha! The cartoonists, of course, but they are hardly blameless.

What
about the big picture? Who is right, or wrong? The provocative
publishers of the cartoons? Or those who call for restraint in that
area? What about those laughing at, or those taking offense from, or
those ignoring the infamous cartoons in question?

Well,
it appears to me all sides have legitimate points worth considering.
Since real consideration would call for actually listening to the other
guy -- the rube, the infidel, the jackanapes -- that's not happening.
Thus, the cauldron of ill humors bubbles across the pond, while cynical
Americans awash in culture of casual rough talk and obnoxious
information are baffled.

Yet, in America, we have our
share of violent gangs and lathered up religious extremists, too. You
can get killed in some neighborhoods for wearing the wrong color. So the
first thing America ought to do is get off its high horse when viewing
this curious story, one that may evolve into a larger story.

Should
the European publishers simply back off? Is that still a possibility?
They may be in a position called “zugswang” in the game of chess. The
term means it is your turn and any move with any piece only makes
matters worse.

Perhaps the determined publishers should
get more creative, find a way to use levity to promote a better
understanding of the beauty of both freedom of speech and good manners.
Still, the cartoon publishers do have a valid point when they claim
religious hardliners are trying to chill freedom of expression.

To
go secular, America's never-ending brouhaha over flag-burning may shed
some light on an aspect of truth. To me, the burning of Old Glory in
protest of government policy is obviously an act of political speech, so
our national custom allows for it. The Constitution still protects it.
OK, burn the flag at your anti-war rally. If, on the other hand, you
schlep it over to the American Legion Hall to set it ablaze in the
parking lot, don’t ask me not to laugh if an old veteran rolls up his
sleeves and makes you sorry you did it.

However, the
offended vet is hardly justified to beat the rude flag-burner to death.
Enough is enough. So, if the outraged Muslims want to hurl insults
across borders at the publishing provocateurs, or organize an economic
boycott, or even throw up a picket line somewhere, that’s fine. But
killing people over insulting cartoons can’t be justified by serious
people in a civilized world.

An impartial witness might
ask: where are the moderate Muslim leaders, cool heads who could do
much with this opportunity to demonstrate the difference between the
troubling fringes of the vast Islamic world and its calm center? A
sincere peacemaker might ask: why such universal virtues as “prudence”
and “civility” seem lost to all sides in this noisy clash of cultures? A
good detective might ask, who stands to gain from inciting more riots?

An
artist at the drawing board might ask how to inform the viewer it’s
supposed to be a picture of you-know-who without a caption? So is the
problem really more with words than pictures? Otherwise, it could be a
picture of Mr. Natural or a cat in ZZ Top.

Some
say the cartoon riots have peaked and the controversy will all blow
over fast. We’ll see, but I doubt that. I suspect this rhubarb has too
many players still convinced they can profit from perpetuating, even
exacerbating it.

Hopefully, after the cartoonists’ ink,
mixed with the blood of the zealots and the unlucky bystanders, is
hosed off the streets, the witnesses left standing will have developed a
greater appreciation for tolerance. That, and the eternal value of a
sense of humor.